It was the day before Christmas Eve and we had no wrapping paper! We decided to decorate some plain brown craft paper,brown lunch bags and a whole pile of little wooden teddy bears, too. It seemed it would be less messy to do it all at the beach.

I got on the radio during the morning cruisers net and invited "kids of all ages" to join us for Christmas crafts on the beach at 2 p.m. Coleen and I loaded up all the arts and crafts supplies we had on board and spread them out on two picnic tables at the beach. We ended up with 15 kids and several adults, having great fun painting, gluing, using stencils, and of course a bit of sand art, too. We even had people that came over from town. The only rule was that you had to find your own rocks to hold down your art work before you started. We brought clothespins too, so folks could hang their masterpieces from the volley ball net to dry. It was a great afternoon. We may have to make it a tradition.

If you look closely, you can see the Glass Slipper anchored in the background.

I had a great time at the Christmas Ladies Luncheon held at St. Francis Resort. Twenty-two ladies showed up bearing treasures for the gift exchange. We had a great lunch and then lots of fun swapping presents. I got quite a haul - chocolates and a Cuban cigar...

Meanwhile, Coleen had fun playing on the beach at the Chat n Chill. Later she went home with the friends from Rollic, while I went to another boat for a single handers dinner. Nine of us, including 2 other women, crowded aboard Falcon's Nest for a nice meal and companionship. I did have someone comment that I'm not like other sailing women he'd met as I'm not loud and don't use bad language. I suppose that's a compliment...

One of the aspects of living on a cruising boat that I like best is our little community. Occasionally you’ll run into the odd fellow who causes a little trouble and of whom you need to steer clear, but 99% of the people we meet are first rate and excel at helping each other. A few examples follow: A couple of weeks ago Coleen and I managed to put a hole in Cherub, our beloved dinghy, while landing at the beach under sail and hitting a rock (on an otherwise sandy beach). We discovered the hole a few days later while sailing to another beach for a boaters gathering. Within a few minutes of telling our tale, we had an offer for repair. The next morning our friend Tom came ashore with portable tools and epoxy and soon Cherub was good as new. The ship’s batteries were having trouble holding a charge, so we turned off our fridge to lower our consumption. A couple of days later, a friend shows up with a book on how to manage without refrigeration. Another, stops by to give us 3 solar panels, which will put out enough power to increase our charging capacity by 60%! He also loaned us a portable generator (brand new) that we used to equalize the ship’s batteries, which helps our situation immensely. I’m having trouble with the ship’s sewing machine, someone offers to loan me a set of repair/maintenance DVD’s, then calls to see how I made out. (Of course given my limited mechanical ability, I’ve yet to fix it, but that quest is another story). Prince desperately needed a new leash, someone makes a really cool one for him and drops it by the boat while we are gone. Coleen and I are struggling to get jugs of water on board, someone makes us a special line that makes the job a lot easier. Coleen’s computer goes on the blink, blue screen of death, followed by not being able to boot, yes, you guessed it another friend to the rescue. People who are headed across the harbor to town are always asking if someone needs anything from the store. Coleen needed help Christmas shopping, our friend Norm picked her up in his high speed dinghy, and took her shopping, even bought her an ice cream. Other friends invited Coleen to visit, while I did my Christmas shopping. We needed a ride to work at the library, as the winds were too strong for our dinghy, someone gave us a ride. The list is nearly endless. The other night I was feeling quite humbled by everyone’s generosity and becoming concerned that we were doing a bit too much getting and not enough giving. I’ve always been very independent and not good at accepting help. One thing I’ve learned is that people actually like to help each other, so it’s OK to say yes sometimes. Still I like to at least try keep things in balance. We may not be able to fix something, but we can volunteer at the library, bake cookies, have folks for dinner or games, or help with a little mending. Just this morning, Coleen gave away a whole pile of toys to a family with two little girls. I’m sure we’ll never balance the scales, but it’s good to try. Meanwhile, all aboard the Glass Slipper are feeling very blessed today!

We've been plagued with power issues for the past several weeks and have resorted to running the engine for an hour or two each day, just to keep up with our meager electrical needs. I suspect it is because the ship's batteries need to be equalized, which means hooking up to shore power, not really an option at present. I was getting so frustrated it was stealing my joy,.so after much discussion Coleen and I decided to turn off the fridge as it uses more power than everything else added together.! Since we mostly eat vegetarian while on the boat, really just about the only thing we had in it that truly needed refrigeration was milk and oj.

I was getting so tired of being the electrical police around here, always saying, " only ten minutes on the computer", "turn off the Christmas tree", "no you can't watch a movie, are you crazy our batteries are reading 11.9 ! I hated hearing the sound of the engine, and the thought of wasting all that diesel fuel.

Coleen and I spent an evening reorganizing our food, putting our fruits and veggies in wicker baskets, and storing condiments in the pantry. We have a stone butter crock, stored the cheddar cheese in olive oil, the eggs, mozzarella and parm are fine for a week at room temp.. Our fridge now contains dry stores like flour, beans, and rice. We bought some individual sized boxed milk and juice for Coleen's breakfast and she reports that it tastes just fine. (That girl is a trooper).

What about cocktail hour? I've switched to red wine, which is a favorite, or a rum/lime drink which tastes just fine without ice. If I really need a iced cold drink, the Chat n Chill is a 10 minute dinghy ride.

It's only been a few days, but so far so good. I do have to be careful to adjust recipes so we don't have left overs, or I can always invite someone to join us for dinner if I make too much. I like having all my food out where I can see it, and know what needs to be eaten, rather than having it in the black hole of a fridge. Also, my least favorite chore was cleaning out the fridge, and now I don't have to do it anymore!